JEDDAH, 31 August — Saudi Arabia was the overall winner for the under-17 singles and group participants with a total of five and eight gold medals respectively at the 5th annual GCC Judo Championship, which ended at the King Fahd Coastal City on Monday night.
Kuwait was the overall winner in the under-21 singles and group participants with a total of four and eight gold medals respectively. In the under-17 singles competition Saudi players winning first place in their respective categories were: Eissa Hasan Majrashi under 50 kg, Yasser Hussein Ayad under 60 kg, Turki Abdullah Muneer under 73 kg and Yahya Mufreh Al Zahrani under 90 kg.
In the under-17 group competition Saudi winners getting first or second place were: Abdel Rahman Muhammad Al Hazmi, second, under 55 kg; Abdul Rahman Adnan Al Meenawi, second, under 66 kg; Muhanad Othman Khamis, second, under 81 kg; and Rami Hussein Meemish, first, 90 kg and above.
In the under-21 singles competition, Kuwaiti winners in the first place in their respective categories were: Saleh Badi Al Rashidi under 55 kg, Ibrahim Muhammad Ibrahim Al Abdali under 66 kg, Yusuf Dali Al Onaizi under 81 kg. Ahmad Muhammad Al Thamer finished in second place in the under 100 kg category.
In the under-21 group competition, players from the Kingdom, Kuwait, Qatar and the UAE shared honors winning first place — Saeed Khalil Khalili of Qatar, under 60 kg; Ghanem Abdullah Al Deekan of Kuwait, under 73 kg; and the Kingdom’s Suliman Abdullah Al Faraidhi, under 90 kg; and Muhammad Hilal Al Qoraishi 100 kg & above.
“High sportsmanship and professional conduct was evident throughout the tournament,” Asaad Ali ibn Sefrah, deputy director personnel and administration at Zahid Tractor which sponsored the championship, said: “Friendly sports competitions that bring our brethren from the Gulf should be encouraged for it strengthens the bond between us and increases sports awareness for everyone,” he said congratulating the winners.
